Popular

May 13, 2006

Moussaoui starts life sentence in top security jail

by Sam Savage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Convicted September 11 conspirator
Zacarias Moussaoui has been transferred to the maximum security
prison in Colorado where he will begin serving his life
sentence, U.S. officials said on Saturday.

Moussaoui was removed from an Alexandria, Virginia,
detention center on Friday night and flown to Florence,
Colorado, accompanied by U.S. Marshals, the Justice Department
said in a statement.

Moussaoui, 37, was sentenced last week to life in prison
for conspiracy in the September 11 attacks. Late on Friday, he
appealed his life sentence and a federal judge's denial of his
request for a new trial.

The French citizen of Moroccan descent pleaded guilty to
six counts of conspiracy in April 2005, saying he was an al
Qaeda operative and was supposed to be part of a second wave of
hijackings in the United States.

The Florence prison is designed to house offenders who
require the highest level of security based on institutional
misconduct or nature of their offense, the department's Federal
Bureau of Prisons said in a statement.

The prison houses 398 of the nation's most violent,
disruptive and escape-prone inmates, it said.